A Battle Report That's Out of This World

With Konoha's major victory at the front-line camp, a bloodstained stretcher was also carried into Konoha's medical camp.

The accompanying Chunin captain, Shiranui Yano, compiled everything that had happened along the way into a mission report and sent it to the front-line commander, Baiyun Zaojian.

"Captain Uchiha Ran volunteered to scout the canyon and fell into an ambush. Hidden Sand used barrier jutsu and massive boulders to seal the entrances and exits."

"After entering the depths of Gale-Splitting Gorge... we found roughly fifty Hidden Sand corpses... as well as the bodies of ten Jonin, including Chahachiro... Uchiha Ran was the only survivor in the entire canyon!"

"Unless something unexpected happened, Captain Uchiha Ran single-handedly eliminated over a hundred Hidden Sand ninja before collapsing from severe injuries and chakra exhaustion."

When Baiyun Zaojian saw this mission report, his first reaction was that Shiranui Yano had been bought off by Uchiha Ran's petty favors.

Otherwise, no one without ten years of psychiatric history could write such an outrageous battle report!

A Jonin—no, even an Elite Jonin—could not possibly turn the tables after falling into a carefully prepared ambush by more than a hundred Hidden Sand ninja.

Not to mention him; even Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the current near-Shadow Level Sannin, would absolutely think of running first if they encountered such a situation.

It was impossible for the two of them to be killed. As heirs to the Three Great Sacred Lands, they could simply use the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to escape.

Forget a hundred Hidden Sand ninja—even if the Six Paths of Pain came, they still could not keep those two there. (Jiraiya only died because he did not want to run. He actually could have escaped.)

There was no need to mention Snake Uncle. If his strength was lacking, his survival skills made up for it; he had outlived countless famous ninja.

But what gave Uchiha Ran the right? An Elite Jonin escaping from that situation would already have been incredibly impressive.

It was not until the Nara Special Jonin he had dispatched returned and truthfully reported what he had seen.

Only then did Baiyun Zaojian realize that this absurd battle report might actually be true.

Uchiha Ran had really counter-killed more than a hundred ninja who had ambushed him. That was no longer merely impressive—it was downright out of this world.

"W-we... the team we sent to reinforce them and clean up the battlefield in the depths of the canyon has returned..."

The Nara Jonin spoke in a low voice.

"In the depths of the canyon... the sight... it was practically a slaughterhouse. By rough count, not including the dozen or so puppet master wreckages, there were over sixty Hidden Sand corpses in the canyon alone!"

"And... and most of them died horribly. Some bodies had been completely incinerated by powerful Fire Release, while others had been blasted into fragments!"

Baiyun Zaojian listened in silence, every word striking his heart like a heavy hammer.

"Jonin Uchiha Ran... he..." The Nara Jonin swallowed with difficulty. "

""Based on the residual chakra traces at the scene... it should have been him... alone. While trapped in an absolute encirclement, with his team members separated, he single-handedly... killed the vast majority of the enemy."

"Especially those ten Hidden Sand Jonin and the puppet master Chahachiro... it can be confirmed that he dealt with nearly all of them by himself."

One against a hundred! And it had been an elite Hidden Sand company, including ten Jonin and a powerful puppet master!

Baiyun Zaojian abruptly turned toward the canyon entrance, as if his gaze could pierce the rock and see the young figure being carried away.

"It's hard to imagine that a Jonin barely in his teens could achieve something like this!"

"No wonder... no wonder he earned the Third Hokage's esteem..."

Baiyun Zaojian's voice carried a barely perceptible tremble—not only from shock, but also from reverence for the feat that young junior had accomplished.

"Three against one? Heh... he fought a high-level match—a dead-end battle against a hundred and twenty ninja by himself."

"If not for him... if that hundred-man Hidden Sand force had charged out from the depths of the canyon and joined Baki's remnants in a counterattack, even if we won, it would have been... a brutal victory among brutal victories!"

He slowly closed his eyes. In his mind appeared Uchiha Ran's usual figure—somewhat arrogant, somewhat lazy, yet incomparably reliable when it mattered most.

That kid... he had actually been hiding such terrifying power and such an unyielding Will of Fire!

"Immediately send more of our finest medical ninja. Use the best medicine. Spare no cost to save Uchiha Ran!"

Baiyun Zaojian abruptly opened his eyes, his voice resolute and carrying an unprecedented gravity and determination.

"He is Konoha's hero! He is the hero who saved this battle and may even change the course of the war in the Land of Rivers. He must live!"

"Yes, Lord Zaojian!" The Nara Special Jonin accepted the order solemnly before turning and sprinting away.

Baiyun Zaojian stood alone atop the rocks as the setting sun stretched his shadow long behind him.

Uchiha Ran: Actually, if you had a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, you could do it too. Madara fought ten thousand men alone and won, and he never even bragged about it!

If they ever learned that the Third Raikage had fought ten thousand Stone Shinobi for three days and three nights before finally dying, they would probably be even more shocked.

The evening wind swept past, bringing with it a thicker stench of blood and the hushed discussions of Konoha ninja in the distance.

The discussions were about the horrifying battle deep within the canyon, and like a prairie fire, the news rapidly spread among the idle Konoha ninja.

"One man... slaughtered an elite hundred-man Hidden Sand force... including ten Jonin..."

"Even Hidden Sand's elite puppet master, Chahachiro, was taken out..."

"I heard this Uchiha Ran... voluntarily went scouting and ended up getting ambushed..."

"No wonder his title is Konoha Spark! Truly a spark burning brightly for Konoha!"

Like a hurricane, the news swept across the entire battlefield. At the same time, it was relayed back to Konoha through summoning beasts and intelligence networks at the fastest possible speed, spreading throughout the Land of Fire.

The news returned to Konoha at the fastest possible speed.

Inside the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked over the battle report with undisguised admiration and shock in his eyes, lavishly praising Uchiha Ran's accomplishments.

Originally, Pot Kage Shimura Danzō had not wanted some Uchiha brat to become famous and had intended to suppress the news.

But the Third Hokage considered Konoha's current predicament: fighting on two fronts, with a third front against Hidden Cloud about to begin.

To raise morale and ease the relationship between the Hokage Building and the Uchiha Clan, he rejected Danzo's proposal. Instead, he vigorously publicized the feat and encouraged the younger generation of ninja to learn from Uchiha Ran.

The entirety of Konoha erupted in excitement. Although the Uchiha were not exactly a likeable bunch, they were still the pride of their village.

It also showed that Konoha was still winning more than it lost in the war outside its borders. The advantage was still with Konoha, all right!

The name Konoha Spark—Uchiha Ran—resounded through streets and alleys, the Ninja Academy, taverns, and teahouses.

The Uchiha Clan members held their heads so high they practically reached the sky, their clan crest seeming to shine brighter because of this achievement.

Most of the radical faction members who had not joined the war were even shouting every day about going to the battlefield. They figured that if Uchiha Ran, a Three-Tomoe Jonin, could fight a hundred alone, then surely they could handle ten each!